Lady Marlins fall short against Pirates

In a season opener, the Destin Marlins came up short 32-29 to the visiting Pryor Pirates in middle school girl’s basketball action earlier this week.

“They did great, Pryor wasn’t originally on our schedule for the first game,” said Destin Coach Susie Pierce.

“We wanted to bring them in early to see where we needed to be. I thought it was a good barometer. It was nice to bring that quickness and our best players so they can start adjusting to it,” she said.

Destin didn’t have any problems adjusting taking an early 5-4 lead in the first quarter.

Samantha Sherer got things rolling for the Marlins with a 3-pointer. Izabelle Adams followed up with a free throw and then Pryor scored on a layup from Marissa Brown. Sherer drew a foul and hit the second of two tries before Brown hit another inside shot.

In the second quarter, Sherer scored back-to-back baskets for the Marlins before the Pirates went on a six-point run. Seconds later, Destin tied the game at 12-12. In the last 30 seconds of the first half, Pryor’s Laila Little hit a shot from underneath for a 14-12 lead at the buzzer.

In the third quarter, Destin regained the advantage back with Sherer leading the way with nine points. Sherer capped off the period with a buzzer-beater 3-pointer for a 21-19 advantage.

About midway of the fourth quarter, Pryor took the lead with Penny Simmons and Brown scoring for a 27-23 go-ahead. The Marlins managed to close it down to a 1-point game in the last 38 seconds, but could never get back on top.

“They (Pryor) went into that 3-2 zone and kept Sam (Sherer) neutralized,” Pierce said. “But she played on of the best games I’ve seen.”

Sherer led the Marlins with 26 points.

Tops for Pryor were Simmons with 12 points and Brown with nine.

Destin was 11 of 21 from the free-throw line while the Pirates made four of 15.